Newsletter Dec. 21, 2016

Newsletter Archives

 

 

Healthy, Happy, Holy Hanakkuh, Christmas, Kwaanzaa & New Year to All!           

 

Important: NEW: Sunday Lectures Getting Live-streamed
We created a new YouTube channel to broadcast live our Sunday Service lectures at 5:00 PM EST. The channel can be viewed here on our website:

www.vedantaprov.org/youtube.html

We also would like to attain a custom URL for our YouTube channel and this can be done only if we have 100 subscribers. So kindly subscribe our YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFof5116HcBYIpUFvKet1Uw/live

Note: The subscription button is just beside the logo of Vedanta Society of Providence.

 

Upcoming Events

Salutations! – Sat. Dec. 24
The birth anniversary of Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, will be observed on Sat. Dec 24  in the morning with a chant and in the evening with a devotional song, and a short biography reading.

 

Christmas Eve Program – Sat. Dec. 24, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Beginning with 7PM Aarati, the Christmas Eve program will have music/singing carols; holi-day readings; readings about significance of Christmas to Vedanta movement, reflections on the holiday, a talk from swami, and Christmas/holiday prasad: finger-foods & snacks will follow. All are welcome to participate
Please contact swami if you have a religious song, poem, story, etc that you want to offer.

Reminder: NO 5pm - 6pm Sunday Service on Dec. 25th; however, morning meditation/chanting (5:45am – 7am)  and evening Aarati (7pm – 8pm: singing, a reading, meditation) will continue as usual and are open to all.

Weekly Programs (in addition to Daily Programs given below)

Friday, Dec. 23	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Jnana-Yoga Study Class by Swami Yogatmananda
Saturday, Dec. 24	8:30 – 10:30 AM: Karma Yoga/Cleaning 11:00 AM – 12 noon: Guided meditation and chanting/singing 7:00 - 8:30 PM: Christmas Eve Program; See datails above.
Sunday, Dec. 25	NO 5pm – 6pm Service/Lecture   Morning meditation (5:45am  – 7:20 am) and evening Aarati (7pm -8pm) will continue as usual
Tuesday, Dec. 27	7:00 PM: Aarati (devotional music) & meditation 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Study Class by Swami Yogatmananda on 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', Ch 52, pp 975

 

Daily Programs

Morning :	5:45 – 6:45 AM: Meditation 6:45 – 7:00 AM: Chanting followed by a short reading from 'The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. 7' 7:00 – 7:25AM – A short ritual worship/Puja. Open to all.
Evening :	7:00 – 7:15 PM: Aarti (devotional music), with a short reading from 'THE STORY OF AN EPOCH: Swami Virajananda and his Times', by Swami Shraddhananda 7:15 – 8:00 PM: Meditation. Open to all.

 

Past Events

Sri Sarada Devi Birthday Celebration: Sun. Dec 18
About eighty devotees attended the 11:00am - 1:00pm ritual worship/puja, with food & flower offerings, a reading, devotional music/singing and flower offering by devotees/attendees; luncheon prasad. About twenty-seven watched the video on ‘Sarada Devi as the Guru’ from 2:30 -3:45pm; about thirty-eight attended/participated in the music segment; about fifty people listened to the Symposium on Sarada Devi from 5pm – 6pm. (for synopsis of talks, see below) This was followed by chant-singing Sri Sarada Sankirtanam (108 names to Sarada Devi), which was then followed by dinner.

Click here to see photo.

 

Synopses of Past Classes

(All classes given by Swami Yogatmananda, unless otherwise stated)

Study Class on 'Jnana Yoga' - Dec. 16, Friday

Class #43: 
We are so attached to this word; understanding that the world is illusory is one thing, but really living according to this understanding and breaking our attachment takes time.  This is why we have to divinize our understanding, or “deify the world.”  Like the changing frames of a movie projected on an unchanging screen, there is an unchanging reality (God) behind everything we see and do.  Sages instruct us to cover everything with God. 
We cling to the world not out of reason, but out of weakness in the form of endless desires.  We mistake the changing for the unchanging, and so we desire that which is changing.  These desires are what bring misery to our lives.   Desire cannot be satisfied with worldly objects, yet we persist in multiplying our desires in an effort to quell them.  We pile on more bondage in the name of becoming free.  Jnana Yoga teaches us to give it a sharp look, to see what desire really is, and to apply our faculty of reason to separate the changing from the unchanging.  That which does not change is God, so cover everything with God.  When we train ourselves to see all things as God, gradually we’ll be able to achieve true knowledge of God as the only reality. 

 

Sunday Lecture –‘Symposium on Holy Mother’ - Dec. 18, Sunday
Joan Shack: A number of western women, inspired by Swami Vivekanand, met with Holy Mother. Sister Nivedita called the times that she spent next to Holy Mother the hour of peace. Devamata (Laura Glenn) said that Holy Mother spoke the deeper wordless language of the heart, even though they had no spoken language in common.
Sheela Krishnan: Holy Mother had eternal love, and told a devotee who had been in jail merely that she had been worried about him. Holy Mother did immense spiritual practice while doing her daily duties, repeating her mantra 100,000 times a day. She said there should be no stress in meditation, and if meditation is hard, to do japa. She said: "I am the mother of the wicked, as I am the mother of the virtuous. Whenever you are in distress, only speak this to yourself, 'I have a mother'."
Christopher Sparks: There is a children’s book by P.D. Eastman, Are You My Mother? A baby bird searches for its mother. We may see our mother in money, food, our teachers, our family, or the government. As the bird finds its mother when it returns to the nest, we find our true Mother when we know our true nature is divine. Before we succeed, we have to make efforts. Just as the bird is convinced it has a mother, we can be convinced that we have a Mother.
Swami Yogatmananda: We need to realize how unthinkable it was at that time for a Brahmin widow from a small village to embrace western women. Despite what psychologists and social reformers say, when Holy Mother met and lived with Sri Ramakrishna, she felt as if a pitcher of bliss had been poured into her heart. When a devotee asked Holy Mother if she was really his mother, she replied that she was his (and our) Mother forever, while the body and its relations are only temporary.

 

Study Class - The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - Dec 20, Tuesday
Pp 973-4; April 23-24, 1886,  
Sri Ramakrishna asked a visiting devotee – Amrit to come again, even offered him hire for his carriage. He used to pay more attention to some devotees. This depended on the spiritual capacity of the visitor.  In some people, he saw great potential but some mundane difficulties obstructing its manifestation. He would go a step further to help such people. In others, he did not see the capacity to do more. He was not too eager to meet such people. This applies even today. It is with Sri Ramakrishna’s grace that we are able to come here (His shrines and temples). Due to his grace, many people accidentally get associated with Him without making special efforts. Once they absorb His ideas to their capacity then they do not feel the need and stop coming. Some people make the efforts to expand their capacity, but this is usually a very painful process.

The next day M (author of the Gospel) visits Sri Ramakrishna with his wife who was very grief stricken due to the death of their son. Even though we know that death is certain, when it happens close to us, it deals a very hard blow to us. We live in the world of day-dreams, thinking of the possibilities and fantasies for the future, assuming that these will come true. We invest in these assumptions; and when something different happens, we are shattered. Seeing a sage, someone who is established in God, can help in stabilizing the mind and in helping it reorganize. In such moments, it is important to have some relationship with God (even if it is with anger) as it helps reorganize the mind around what is real and what is not.